Between 1368 and 1912...

I received word today that I have money waiting for me at one of the banks, but by the time I got out of class the English speaking banks were closed.

Speaking of class, today we learned the words for "mother" "father" "older brother" and "younger brother," among an array of adverbs, adjectives, and verbs. Sorry Rachel, but I can't reference you in Chinese yet.

I had my first "Business Strategies" class today, which utilizes the little-known Chinese text "The 36 Stratagems," which was written by an anonymous author sometime in either the Ming or Qing dynasty. As our teacher informed us later, the Ming and Qing dynasties cover a period of time from 1368 to 1912. So... that's helpful.

It contains 36 mantras that aid in any given situation, whether you are in an advantageous position (loot the house while it is on fire) or a disadvantageous position (beat the grass to startle the snake) or a confusing position (shut the door to catch the thief) or whatever other position you can imagine (borrow the knife to kill your enemy).

Today we discussed "create something out of nothing," in a business and historical context. It originated when a Chinese ruler tried to trick a subordinate into certain death by telling him to make 100,000 arrows in ten days, or else. The subordinate, obviously unable to make 100,000 arrows so quickly, instead borrowed 30 boats from his friend. He then hired 30 soldiers to man the boats, and stayed up for seven days and nights creating straw men to place in the boats along with the soldiers. On the eighth day, the "fleet" appeared out of nowhere outside of an enemy army settlement, and arrows from 20,000 archers rained down on the boats. When they returned to their homeland, there were 100,000 arrows attached that were removed and presented to the ruler, who was suitably impressed and did not have the subordinate killed.

My group decided that the best application of this story in modern business was Apple computers. Though "Snakes on a Plane" was a close second.